Note Type
Historical NoteNote
Adelicia Hayes was born on March 15, 1817, to Oliver Bliss Hayes and Sarah Hightower Hayes. Adelica was raised in Nashville and attended the Nashville Female Academy. Following her graduation, she became engaged to Alfonso Gibbs, but he died before their marriage. In 1839, she married slave trader and planter, Isaac Franklin, and the pair had four children, none of whom survived to adulthood. Upon Franklin's death in 1846, Adelica inherited Fairvue Plantation in Gallatin, and Panola, Belle View, Killarney, and Angola Plantations in Louisiana totaling nearly 60,000 acres and enslaving more than 750 Africans and African Americans, and became the wealthiest woman in Tennessee. In 1849, Adelicia married Joseph Acklen, a Huntsville, Alabama native, lawyer, US Attorney, and veteran of the Texas Revolution. The pair began building a summer estate outside of Nashville called Belmont Mansion which stands today. They had six children, four of whom survived to adulthood. Joseph died in 1863.
Adelicia married Dr. William Archer Cheatham, a physician and head of the Tennessee State Insane Asylum, in 1867. Acklen was heavily involved in charitable works throughout her adult life, especially orphanages and refugees. Adelicia sold Belmont Mansion in 1887 and the plantations in Louisiana in 1880. She died in New York City on May 4, 1887, and is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Nashville.